WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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- Well I grew up in Pennsylvania,

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Western Pennsylvania, I
grew up in Pittsburgh.

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I'm a Steelers fan, I'm a Penguins fan.

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I'm a Pirates fan for sure.

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Most recently though, my family moved here

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to Nebraska from Carlisle Pennsylvania.

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I was attending the Army War College there

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at Carlisle for the past year.

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So back in 2008, I came
to the Omaha District

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and worked here for a couple of years,

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so I was actually working
out at Fort Carson Colorado

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doing military construction.

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A really neat time to
be out there in Colorado

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between MILCON Transformation,
Grow The Army initiatives.

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The District was doing a
little over two billion dollars

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worth of construction back then.

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So, it's neat to come back
to Omaha at this point.

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So my wife Tia had worked
here in the District

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for 10, 12 years, something like that.

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She had worked in real
estate and also had worked

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as a project manager.

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And so, we met back in,
I guess it was 2009.

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Actually got married
here in Omaha in 2011.

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So for us to come back to
Omaha, it's very rewarding,

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both professionally and
on a personal stand point.

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(laughing) I don't know
the answer to that,

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but I'll tell you, I think
she's got a little bit

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of an engineer mind to her.

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Legos and blocks and she
loves to stack 'em up

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as high as she can and then she tells me

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about the stability of them.

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So I think there's
definitely some engineer

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that's ready to come out in her.

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The army does a pretty good job of that.

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When you talk about coming
into 0-6 Colonel Command

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and that the list came out,

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about 18 months before I assumed command.

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About 18 months I knew I
was going to take command.

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And so that would have been
back in December of 2018.

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And then in the spring of 2019,

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I found out that I was specifically slated

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for the Omaha District.

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So had a little bit over a year to,

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one to know that we were
coming here, but then really

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to prepare for coming here as
far as just the move coming

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to Omaha Nebraska, but then of
course to assume the position

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and the role as District
Commander as well.

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Somethings have certainly
changed, but I don't know

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that a lot has changed just
in what I would characterize

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as a short 10 years from
when I was here last time.

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Still a lot of familiar
faces here in the District.

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And it was nice coming
into that familiarity

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where I saw folks that I
had worked with previously

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still here and now have
the opportunity to continue

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to work with some of those same folks.

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But also, there's a lot
of fresh faces as well,

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and it's exciting to come in
and meet new people, new ideas,

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fresh ideas, and get to work
with a new team as well.

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Yeah, a number of them.

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And that's why I say, folks
that I had worked with before,

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just to give an example,

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So Pete Sturtevant now
the Chief of Construction.

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So Pete and I had worked together

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as really Project Engineers
out there in Colorado

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a little over 10 years ago.

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And so as I come back
as a District Commander,

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I come back and see a very familiar face.

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And Pete Sturtevant now is
the Chief of Construction

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Division, so, and there's a
number of examples like that,

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where again get the
opportunity to work with

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some folks that I had
worked with previously.

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One of the early visits
I was able to do was at

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the Colorado out to the front range,

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able to meet a number
of the staff out there

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and also meet a number of
our stakeholders out there,

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particularly military
stakeholders both the army

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and the air force.

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Had a chance to visit Fort
Carson, Peterson Air Force Base

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Schriever Air Force Base, was also able

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to get up to Buckley and then
both of our area offices,

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the Denver area office and the
Rocky Mountain area office.

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And just really neat to be
able to get out and interact

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with the people to see the projects as

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they come out of the ground
and start to take shape.

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I really enjoy that.

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And then just last week, I was
able to do a little bit more

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of a civil works focused and
get up into the top three,

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the Northern three main STEM dam project.

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So visit Fort Peck, visit
Garrison and visit Oahe as well.

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And the same thing, get an opportunity

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to see and meet a bunch of the staff.

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And then I get a chance
to see the projects.

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They're massive pieces of infrastructure

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and they're old pieces of infrastructure.

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But as I get out there, I
find it really inspiring

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to see what our predecessors
have done as far as

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the Army Corps of Engineers
in the construction of these

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really neat pieces of
National Infrastructure.

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And then you see our folks
that continue to operate

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and maintain these things today.

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I find it very, very satisfying

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from an engineering standpoint.

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And I also find it very
inspirational as you get out,

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and I get on the ground
at some of these places.

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That's one of the neat things
that during a Commander

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transition we're typically
able to do in the military

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and certainly had that opportunity
here with Colonel Hudson.

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And that's an opportunity to sit down

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and talk about a number of
priorities and focus areas

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and transition tasks that are going on,

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because it's certainly not a...

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Although the transition is
very finite with the ceremony

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itself and the passing of the guide on,

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the work doesn't stop just
because one Commander's leaving

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and a new one's coming in.

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So Colonel Hudson and I had
an opportunity to sit down

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and talk about a number of things

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and really a treasured moment
to be able to pick his brain

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a little bit about the
District and get his thoughts

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on a number of things as
I come into the position.

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I did my homework before I came here

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and talked to a number of people,

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folks that had been in the
District that are no longer here.

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And then folks that
interact with the District

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in a varied number of ways.

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And I think the message
and maybe the perception

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is pretty clear.

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It's a big District.

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Folks recognize that
Omaha is a big District,

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both geographically large,
and just the vast expanse

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of programs and projects that
we work on extremely large.

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The other thing that people talk about

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is the great people that we have.

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There's so much talent and
expertise inside of the District

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that we've just got some
amazing folks that work on some

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really, really neat projects.

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And I think that's recognized
really throughout the nation

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for that expertise and those
great people that we have right

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here in the Omaha District.

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I think it's important to know that one,

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as we continue to deal with COVID-19

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the health and safety of the
workforce continues to be,

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and will be our number one
priority as we push forward.

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And the second thing is just,

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I really look forward to
getting out and meeting

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and interacting with our
workforce, with the employees,

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getting to understand and
learn about the projects

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they're working on and
really excited to be here

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as part of the Omaha District Team.